Former Anglo Irish Chief David Drumm traced to Massachusetts

Former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive David Drumm, who resigned from his post in December 2008 amid scandals about the lending practices of the bank, has been traced to his current home in Chatham, Cape Cod.

Drumm, 43, is wanted for questioning by Irish police and financial regulators, who want to ask him about the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank and some questionable deals made during his tenure.

Drumm is currently living in a $4.6 million waterfront home in Chatham after moving permanently to the U.S. a year ago. It’s understood Irish authorities now want to question him about deals made during his tenure and if they contributed to the spectacular collapse of the Anglo Irish Bank.

Because Drumm is currently outside the country, Irish officials cannot order him to appear for questioning. Instead they have asked him to cooperate voluntarily, and sources indicate he is negotiating with authorities.

To date no former Anglo Irish officials, including Drumm, have been charged with wrongdoing.

The Irish government took over Anglo Irish Bank in January 2009 after the bank posted the largest corporate loss in Irish history, which cost taxpayers $16 billion.

Speaking to the Irish press on Monday, Joan Burton, the spokesperson on financial affairs for the Labor Party, said, “The notion that somebody who had very senior responsibilities at the bank is able to sit it out in Cape Cod while people in Ireland are having their taxes raised, their salaries cut, and lots of people have lost their jobs - the contrast couldn’t be more startling.”

Drumm resigned from Anglo Irish in December 2008, after it was disclosed that chairman Sean Fitzpatrick had received $115 million in hidden loans from the bank.

According to the Irish press, Drumm was advised by bank officials to move to the U.S. to avoid the “blame culture’’ of Ireland and Britain. Drumm and his wife bought the Chatham home in March 2008 and own a second one nearby that they bought seven months later for $2.6 million.

Drumm first arrived in Boston in 1997, sent there to establish a U.S. client base for Anglo Irish. He was successful from the outset, and Drumm struck up partnerships with some of the region’s largest commercial builders.

Meanwhile, the former Anglo Irish Bank chief is understood to be sharing a building with an Irish multi-millionaire developer who has been charged with the city wide dumping of asbestos.

Developer John McGrail, 46, is also accused of evading unemployment insurance and failure to keep pay records in connection with the alleged dumping. The association between the two men is said to extend to a series of loans.

The Mayo-born McGrail received more than $100 million in mortgages from Anglo Irish, but it is not known if Drumm had any involvement in granting them.

In December 2006 McGrail’s company, Mayo Three, was given a $94.4 million mortgage for a number of properties in the River Street area of Boston that according to deeds were worth just under $25 million.

In April 2007 a second mortgage was signed, bringing the total to $96.1 million. There were two further amendments bring the loan to $110 million and then $159 million in November 2007. Last year the loan amount was cut to $120 million where it currently stands.

McGrail appeared in court last week on eights counts in connection with the illegal removing and dumping of asbestos, four counts of evading unemployment insurance and four of failing to provide pay records. He pleaded not guilt to the charges. He faces a potential jail sentence of up to seven years and fines of up to $175,000.